The Challenge of Combining High Yields with Environmentally Friendly Bioproducts: A Review on the Compatibility of Pesticides with Microbial Inoculants

Abstract

Inoculants or biofertilizers aiming to partially or fully replace chemical fertilizers are becoming increasingly important in agriculture, as there is a global perception of the need to increase sustainability. In this review, we discuss some important results of inoculation of a variety of crops with rhizobia and other plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB). Important improvements in the quality of the inoculants and on the release of new strains and formulations have been achieved. However, agriculture will continue to demand chemical pesticides, and their low compatibility with inoculants, especially when applied to seeds, represents a major limitation to the success of inoculation. The differences in the compatibility between pesticides and inoculants depend on their active principle, formulation, time of application, and period of contact with living microorganisms; however, in general they have a high impact on cell survival and metabolism, affecting the microbial contribution to plant growth. New strategies to solve the incompatibility between pesticides and inoculants are needed, as those that have been proposed to date are still very modest in terms of demand.

Combined Biostimulant Applications of Trichoderma spp. with Fatty Acid Mixtures Improve Biocontrol Activity, Horticultural Crop Yield and Nutritional Quality

“…During the past 50 years, increases in food production were achieved mainly by undue application of external inputs and the growth in global consumption of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides increased considerably [3]. These intensive agricultural practices have caused severe damage to wildlife habitats and negatively affected human health, led to groundwater contamination, reduction in useful microflora and microfauna, increase in greenhouse gas emissions and generalized pollution phenomena [4].…”

A Comparative Analysis of Microbe-Based Technologies Developed at ICAR-NBAIM Against Erysiphe necator Causing Powdery Mildew Disease in Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.)

“…The application of bioagents could possibly employ the mechanisms like mycoparasitism, nutrient competition, hyperparasitism, antibiosis, competition for space, and production of cell-wall degrading enzymes (Harman et al, 2004 ; Robinson-Boyer et al, 2009 ; Malviya et al, 2020 ), which could have reduced the invasion of E. necator . Since the bioagents performed well upon foliar spray on the leaf surface, it represents a high degree of rhizosphere/phyllosphere competence, which is the first and foremost requirement for developing a successful biocontrol system (Sawant et al, 2012 ; Pylak et al, 2019 ; Santos et al, 2021 ). The bioagents used in this study were earlier reported to induce systemic resistance (ISR) in different crops against plant pathogens (Singh et al, 2016a , b , 2019a , b ).…”

Identification and in vitro Evaluation of Environmental Stress Resilient Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterial Consortia for Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

“…Use of agrichemicals has become an indispensable part of crop production as they are applied to soil, seeds or on plant as fertilizers and to control pests and diseases. Hence there is need to study the compatibility of microbial inoculants with agrichemicals [7]. In the present study the compatibility of bacterial isolates with different agrichemicals was studied using disc diffusion method.…”

“…PGPR based technologies cannot totally substitute for fertilizers and other chemical inputs [2,3] and are hence applied in conjunction with agrichemicals like fertilizers and pesticides, consequently forming a vital component of integrated nutrient and pest management strategies [4,5]. During this scenario wherein PGPR are exposed to agrichemicals applied to soil or seed, it is important to study their effect on rhizobacteria and to ensure that there are no adverse effects that impair the beneficial traits of selected bacteria [6,7]. Therefore, compatibility studies between rhizobacterial inoculants and agrichemicals are of foremost importance while selecting PGPR that can act as bioinoculants.…”